CARD researchers and affiliates have a long tradition of developing and applying the tools of economics to create knowledge that supports good agricultural policy, and to help us continue in that tradition we have created the Agricultural Policy Review. I am delighted that economics faculty with extension appointments will join CARD faculty and staff in producing a timely, relevant publication that I am confident readers interested in many facets of agricultural policy including energy, nutrition, food security, international trade, and the environment will find highly valuable.
Our goal for the Agricultural Policy Review is to create a publication that is not only succinct and timely but also two directional—an outreach publication to disseminate information from CARD researchers to readers, and in turn, from readers to us.
Readers familiar with the Iowa Ag Review, CARD’s previous outreach publication, will notice that we have continued the tradition of publishing articles firmly rooted in economic analysis. However, we have dropped the word “Iowa” from the title, as articles in the Agricultural Policy Review will have more national and international relevance. Some articles published will have an Iowa or Midwestern focus, but the fundamental issues addressed will go well beyond geographic boundaries.
Many of the short pieces published in the Agricultural Policy Review will be based on longer, more technical publications that the reader looking for more detail can consult, but each piece is intended to be understood on its own (no need to pull out your college calculus book!). We hope to take advantage of rapidly changing and improving technology to produce concise visual displays to portray key insights, and we plan to experiment with a few new features. For example, in this issue, we have begun our first “Ask an Ag Economist” segment where we invite readers to submit questions to us. We will periodically choose questions of general interest to respond to in future issues.
The Agricultural Policy Review is currently scheduled for three publications a year—fall, winter, and spring. However, we encourage reader feedback and suggestions at any time. Feel free to email me or our managing editor (Nathan Cook) with comments, or you can contact us on Facebook or Twitter. We are anxious to hear from our readers to help us produce a high quality publication that is worth your time to read. In short (and with apologies to the New York Times), we hope to publish all the agricultural policy that’s fit to print, click, or Google!
Cathy Kling
Director
Center for Agricultural and Rural Development
Suggested citation:
2013. "Greetings from CARD!." Agricultural Policy Review, Fall 2013. Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University. Available at www.card.iastate.edu/ag_policy_review/article/?a=5.